YET ANOTHER FFI QUEST: The Chronicles
by scrumpleberry
Summary: The Chronicles of Zebra, Carrot, Dental and Cashew. A little sarcastic, with some character development. Read and review, and please enjoy!
1. Prologue:ZEBRA

**DISCLAIMER: This story is completely the work of those talented peope at Square - Enix. I wish it was mine, but it isn't. The four main characters are mine, all the other characters belong to Squenix.**

Final Fantasy: the chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

Prologue: Before the quest

"The small child stared blankly at the marble pillars of the grand white temple. A tanned, comforting hand touched her softly on the shoulder. The girl was grateful for the hand, but not as grateful as she could have been. She felt numb, and weak. Everything was so…unfamiliar. She had nothing. Nothing but the sodden clothes she stood in. There was a question he had asked…what was the question?

It was the evening, and she was very tired. The memories of the day swam in the four-year-old's head, hazy images of floods, faces and other things her juvenile mind was already beginning to shut out, to distance her from.

She remembered it was a wedding. Her brother's. At the beach. Every last person in the seaside hamlet was there. A set of tiny, quaint stone steps led down from the green field to the white sand.

It was an idyllic scene. No one suspected what was about to happen.

The little girl was a bit bored, but soon cheered up when she found a few pebbles and tried to build a battle fort in the middle of the aisle. She was shooed away by elder family members, clucking about the state of her bridesmaid's dress, and ran out to the edge of the sands to skim the remains of her fort across the turquoise sea. She watched a pebble neatly disappear after an incredible eight skips.

She stared out for a moment at the waters, fiddling with her huge crystal necklace. What was it…something was unusual.

The sea had darkened. That was the only word for it. It had switched rapidly from the clear, pure tone on a June day to almost black, darker than a sea reflecting the midnight sky. The seagulls stopped their raucous cacophony of squawks as they circled the wedding cake. They flew lopsidedly away from the ocean. She looked over her shoulder for her mother. The adults had taken no heed of the seagull's flight, or of the sudden darkening of the deep. The little girl was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding, which screamed at her to get away, to safety. No animals could be seen. Everything was still but for the wedding.

For a moment she thought the water was…drawing in light, absorbing it from the clear sky like a leech. She didn't waste any more time.

She turned and ran.

"Dear?"

"Oi!"

"Where d'you think-?"

"What on earth-?"

She was almost at the steps, panting and pumping her little legs furiously. People had stopped calling out to her. They were preoccupied with the flood, which now reached out angrily and consumed the wedding, washing away everything and everyone. The girl was nearly there. Got to make it. Got to…

She slipped on a step and tumbled down. There was a sickening crack as she whacked her little shin hard on four of the tiny steps.

As she slid down the steps, too shocked to cry out, the blood from her leg tinted the black water red. When she went under, she didn't kick, didn't even struggle. She let herself be carried under and away from the beach.

Black

There was no light in the water, as much as she strained to see, all that existed was the rhythmic tide of the water. She almost fancied she heard a word in the cloying silence. "Kraken" the water said. What a funny word…Kraken.

Kraken

Kraken

Kraken

Kraken

Kraken

Kraken

Kraken

Krak-

The gigantic crystal necklace her mother had given her for the wedding bumped hard against her cheek. It was hard and cold, refusing to be affected by the warmish temperature of the water. But it made her think. She was drowning. She was drowning? She was drowning! The girl began to move again, to struggle desperately in the direction she thought was up.

Then, there was a hand on her collar, pulling her up, out of the water. She was held coughing and spluttering under her arms as she squinted in the glorious, lovely daylight. Who was holding her? A young man, very tall, up to his shoulders in waters she could have drowned in. He had startling green eyes and long silver hair. She fainted with relief.

Black.

She came to minutes before they reached the temple. The man, who now donned an impressive red plumed hat, smiled at her, putting her on the ground.

"Can you walk?"

The little girl nodded, her large brown eyes glancing around nervously. They walked in silence, the tall young man with a slender sword by his side not wanting to scare her. Once he felt that she must be getting bored, he asked "So, what's your name?"

The child chewed her lip nervously, glancing at him. What WAS her name? He squeezed her shoulder. She was too distracted to be grateful.

He looked up and caught sight of a grand marble temple not fifty metres from them.

"You're in luck! Kiddo, how would you like to become a white mage?"

She turned, large eyes gazing soulfully at him, fiddling again with the comforting necklace.

"A…white-?"

There was a creak and a bang as the grand oaken doors swung slowly open and then shut to let though three robed figures. White mages! They looked so…perfect, so pure, so magnificent.

"OMG, WTF, ROFL!"

"Be silent at once, mysty. You know full well that spamming is forbidden in this holy place."

"Yeah, mysty."

"Jude, hold your tongue."

"LOL:D"

That was the moment that she knew she was going to be safe, going to be alright.

She was going to be a white mage!

Relief passed over her.

Black

Again.

Her eyelids fluttered open. She was in a small, cosy room. There was a bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe and a desk.

She wriggled out of the luxurious covers pinning her to her bed. A giant red and white nightgown much too big for her swamped her. Red and white. It was a theme featured throughout the room. Pretty colours, she thought to herself, better than blue and black.

She stood on her tiptoes and opened the vast wardrobe, her small worried face reflected in the mirrors on the inside of the doors. She smiled at herself. She really did look ridiculous enveloped in the nightgown.

Hanging in the wardrobe were sets of mages robes (thankfully) cut and sewn to fit her. There was some underwear, another giant nightgown and the dress she had worn for the wedding, washed and dried.

Three pairs of tiny, soft white leather ankle boots were set out in neat formation along the bottom of the wardrobe. On the desk was a white box, with the crystal and the pearly magnetic stud earrings she had worn for the wedding.

As she got dressed, she noticed that someone had bandaged her leg. With the magic of the older mages it was healed completely, and now she tore off the bandage. There were four scars running across her leg in perfectly parallel stripes. As the girl sat and thought, rubbing her leg, she realised that she could recall nothing prior to the events of the wedding.

Her door swung open, and mysty, the mage who had spoken in odd language the day before, came in.

"ur awaek urly, LOL im never awik this urly XD i maed teh room 4 u & stchd teh robes do u lyk tem"

Although mysty was a little difficult to understand and quite intimidating, the child made friends with the older girl (or, as mysty put it, grrl) and when mysty commented that the striped scars on her leg made her look like a little zebra, Zebra became a nickname, and then a name.

Zebra progressed quickly, as she was determined and calculating. Most students only arrived at the age of ten (the youngest was the eighteenth matron who had arrived orphaned at ten months old and had begun learning by the age of three) so she had a six year head start on her friends. By the age of twelve, her training was complete, and she stayed on for a further two years, learning more practical talents, such as dealing with stubborn warriors who refused to let you near their wounds.

Zebra is currently extremely accomplished and has many talents."

"So…that's my life story." An older Zebra sat on a different bed, her nightgown fitting her perfectly.

"Really?" asked Tigerlily, hanging upside down from the bed above hers.

She laughed "Hard to believe Matron Mysty really used to be like that. She hits down hard on bad grammar now."

mysty had suddenly changed one day, and bad grammar or spelling made her feel physically sick. Once the old matron died, all the white mages over eighteen voted her to become the new matron of the temple, as she was responsible and fair. The Matron Mysty was twenty-eight years old. At the age of ten, Zebra moved into a dormitory with five new girls who were either orphaned or showed talent with magic. They thought Zebra was strange, but admired her and soon warmed to her. And she was a great help with the homework of her peers, which certainly helped her socially.

"You have a pretty dramatic life story, Zebby." Tigerlily, her closest friend, quipped.

"According to this thing, yeah. It was written by Mysty, mind. I don't remember most of the whole flood thing. I don't think it was that traumatic. I mean, I turned out alright, didn't I?" She jokingly gave the other girls a lunatic grin. Everyone giggled. She couldn't remember any of her past. Apart from that one word…Kraken. Kraken Kraken Kraken. It drove her crazy, circling around her head all the time. She wished it would just go away.

But it never did.


	2. Prologue:CARROT

Final Fantasy: the Chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

**DISCLAIMER: This story is completely the work of those talented peope at Square - Enix. I wish it was mine, but it isn't. The four main characters and any NPC's you don't recognise are mine, all the other characters belong to Squenix.  
**

Prologue: CARROT

"You have a pretty dramatic life story, Zebby." Tigerlily, Zebra's closest friend, quipped.

"According to this thing, yeah. It was written by Mysty, mind. I don't remember most of the whole flood thing. I don't think it was that traumatic. I mean, I turned out alright, didn't I?" She jokingly gave the other girls a lunatic grin. Everyone giggled. She couldn't remember any of her past. Apart from that one word…Kraken. Kraken Kraken Kraken. It drove her crazy, circling around her head all the time. She wished it would just go away.

There was a record written, by an older friend, parents, or the matron if there was no-one else, of every mage's life story before arriving at the temple.

The bold Rosenet and nimble Tigerlily had snuck into the office of records and taken the folders of everyone in the dormitory that summer night when they were bored. The folders were scattered on Zebra's bed.

"Pass mine then." said Ashura, from the bottom bunk in the middle of the room.

Suddenly the door swung open. Everyone gasped and fell silent. A beautiful voice tinkled at them "Girls? What DO you think you are doing?"

_Oh dear_ thought Zebra. Matron Mysty slowly picked up one of the recrods, held it up to eye level and stared at it for a few seconds, whilst the tension in the room mounted.

"So, if you wanted your records, why didn't you just ask for them?"

"Um…"

"Well, we didn't really…"

"So, I see that you are clearly bored with this mundane temple and seek something greater." The matron's eyes flashed, but she looked more amused than angry. "Well, I have a quest of the greatest importance for you."

Oh yes. Picking up a guest was the most adventurous thing Zebra had ever done in her entire life. What was wrong with Mysty? Stupid…

They walked down the path to the nearest chocobo stop and sat there, waiting for someone to come and greet them.

"Um…" A nervous voice nervously ummed from behind a chocobo.

As the bird was let loose and, with a ruffle of feathers and indignant squawk, made its way back to its stable, it revealed a warrior. He was clothed in red armour (though Zebra suspected it may have been rust) carried a pack, a shield and a longsword at his hip. All of the girls let out a gasp, except for Zebra, who wasn't impressed, and Hellene, who was too busy fluttering her eyelashes at him.

After a moment of stunned silence Zebra elbowed the gaping Bellina in the ribs, hissing "He's only about the same age we are. For the love of Lukahn, stop gaping at him. He probably hasn't even finished training yet."

"Don't be silly, Zebs!" replied her friend "Eight out of ten heroes save the world in their teens or early twenties."

"So uh…are you guys-uh, girls…taking me? T-to the temple?"

"He can't even form a coherent sentence!" whispered Zebra to Ashura.

"Shush, this is great! A real warrior!"

Rosenet jumped to her feet, flicking back her long black hair "Hello. I'm Rosenet. That's Ashura, there's Hellene – the one fluttering at you- that one is Tigerlily, next to her is Zebra – the one scowling - and there's Bellina. Pleased to meet you." She held out her hand formally, with a charming smile.

"Right. I'm…Carrot." It clearly pained him to say it. Zebra almost laughed coldly, but then remembered her own name.

Most of the girls were dazzled by the glamour and heroics surrounded by the life of a warrior, but Zebra wasn't fooled. He wasn't happy, somehow. There was something about him that was a little...off. He laughed nervously at jokes, gave half-hearted answers to questions.

However, Carrot cheered up considerably when Ashura asked him about his sword. He drew it and gave everyone a detailed explanation on the various types of sword, and their history. It was fascinating…for anyone who liked swords.

Zebra was bored stiff.

"Forget swords, tell us more about adventures."

It was the first time she had spoken, and he was taken aback by her non-simpering attitude and the forwardness of her voice.

"Um…okay." Carrot said. Nervously.

So Carrot was nervous the entire journey to the temple, and Zebra found it intensely annoying. She felt like being cruel. When he was nervously trying to fend off Hellene, who had latched on to his arm and was holding onto him like a limpet, Zebra spotted a fine silver chain hidden under his armour.

"Oh, how pretty. Can I see your necklace?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh…this isn't a necklace."

"What is it then?"

"…Okay, it is a necklace. But I only wear it as a…uh…necessity."

"Wow. I never realised accessorising was a necessity for warriors."

He didn't bother to reply to her, rather glowering in silent protest. He took the necklace off with his non-Hellene'd arm and tossed it to her with an expression of distaste.

It was a huge, heavy colourless crystal. Zebra felt her insides go cold. The resemblance was uncanny. It was identical to hers.

She gave it back to him, nervous. Carrot snatched it back without looking at her.

Zebra could tell none of the girls would sleep that night. They were all sitting on Bellina's bed, talking about Carrot.

Zebra stared at her bedside table. She picked up a book, but couldn't read. She stared at the drawer. Inside were the magnetic studs she had worn for the wedding on that fateful day and the crystal. She turned away from the drawers. She tried to sleep with her pillow over her head, but couldn't drift off. Quite aside from the insufferable giggling coming from a corner of the room, there was something on her mind. She turned over and opened the drawer.

Taking out the crystal on its long, silver chain, she stared at it. Colourless. Dark. Exactly like his…

She sighed and mumbled something about needing the toilet as she left to go and see Mysty. After traipsing down many marble halls, she knocked on her old friend's office door.

"Come in, Zebs."

Zebra pushed the door open and poked her head round the side.

"What do you need?"

Zebra shuffled inside.

"I have to see Carrot." Mysty blinked at her.

"Is he asleep? I - I guess I could wait until morning..."

"No, I just didn't expect…" Mysty paused and laughed.

"Come on then!" she said and grabbing her young friend by the hand she pulled her behind a bookshelf, down many passages and through many halls, none of which Zebra knew. All the while, Mysty was staring at her pocket watch. They stopped abruptly at a door. Zebra was so dizzy she was sure she would be sick.

Suddenly, Mysty enveloped her in a hug. She let out a long sigh, and when she spoke her voice sounded unusually sad.

"I - I didn't expect it to be you. If you need anything before you...go, just come and ask. And good luck." The matron kissed the girl on the top of her head, squeezed her shoulder, and swept off down the hall.

Zebra stared after her for a moment, then turned and opened the door. Carrot didn't notice her come in. He was sitting on his bed in full armour, his sword and crystal lying on the bed next to him, and he was staring ((nervously) at the clock on his chest of drawers, leaning forward with his chin in his hands.

"Hey," Zebra said softly, as the clock struck midnight. He looked at her, startled, for a few seconds, looked back at the clock, then let out a long sigh of relief and lay back on his bed, eyes closed.

He reached his hand out, and Zebra realised she was still nevously clutching the crystal, so hard that her knuckles were nearly white. She dropped it into his hand. He picked up his own and held them side by side.

"This is it." he whispered.

"What?" Zebra replied.

It seemed that for once Carrot had forgotten to be nervous. He glanced at her and said,

"You really have no idea, do you?" Zebra stared at his intense green eyes. He didn't seem quite so stupid when he wasn't nervous. "Tell me what happened to you." It wasn't a request. Zebra folded her arms.

"I beg your pardon?" she said indignantly.

"What happened to you? You know what I mean."

Zebra did know perfectly well what he meant. She sat down on a chair opposite the bed and licked her lips. Her throat felt dry.

"I was..." she closed her eyes, hoping he would withdraw the question. He sat back up and looked at her.

"I was at a wedding. My brother's. There was a...a sort of storm. Out at the sea. It was horrible. Everything died. I fell in the sea. I was rescued by this guy, with really scary hair, he brought me here." She sunk back in the seat, drew up her legs and folded her arms around them. Carrot was silent for a moment.

"What was the word?" he asked.

"What?" she muttered thickly.

"In your head. The word."

"Kraken." As Zebra gave voice to the word, she felt as though a little weight had lifted off her shoulders, and she sat a little straighter in her chair. Carrot muttered something and Zebra put her head one side.

"Will you tell me why I'm here?" she asked.

"You know just as much as I do." he replied, getting up and handing back her crystal. "Can you recite Lukhan's prophecy?"

Zebra sniffed and put her legs back on the ground, as she put the fine silver chain of the crystal back around her neck. "As any toddler can.

**_When the word is in darkness, four warriors will come..._**

...not exactly tough to remember, is it? But how is that relevant?"

Carrot raised an eyebrow at her. She stared at him for a moment, then something slowly started to click into place.

"Oh no. No no no no no. That's not possible. That's just stupid." She gave a nervous laugh and grinned at him. He didn't smile back.

"You can't be serious, I mean..." Zebra held up her crystal and stared into it's depths. There was certainly something very odd about the whole situation, but it couldn't be that she was Destined to Save the World.

"...I mean, look at us. We're only kids, for goodness' sake. Surely it couldn't be...it's too..."

"Too what? Ridiculous?" Zebra didn't say anything. Carrot stared straight at her.

"When I was five years old, my village was destroyed in a freak fire. I lost everything I ever knew. The flames were...incredible, glowing. Not like the normal light of a fire, it was nearly blinding, it was amazing. And nothing worked. Water, sand every form of extinguishing a fire, it never even delayed it. It just burnt everything up. I just turned around and legged it . I hid out of the village until the flames left, and when I came back, the only think left lying on the ground..." he held up his crystal "...was this."

Zebra didn't say anything.

"The fire, the storm - they weren't normal. They happened for a reason. Everything happened for a reason. We were meant to do this, Zebra."

Carrot stared at her. She felt very awkward. The use of her name had taken her by surprise.

"If you still don't believe me, then you really aren't as smart as you look, are you?"

"I just need some time to think!" she snapped. Carrot lay back on his bed with a triumphant grin on his face. Zebra seethed for a moment. This was ridiculous, it was absolutely stupid, it was the ramblings of a moronic teenager and yet...

Yet there was something that told her it was true. Somewhere, in the bottom of her heart, she knew it was true. She stood up and said formally.

"Right. Well. We'll leave tommorow and I'll see you then."

She returned to her dormitory, where the girls still weren't asleep and hadn't noticed her leave. On impulse she hugged all of them.

"What was that for?" Rosenet asked in a suspicious tone of voice.

"I'm gonna miss you." Zebra said, and without any further explaination she buried herself in her duvet and fell asleep.

Tommorow was going to be a long day.


	3. Prologue:DENTAL

Disclaimer: This ain't mine, only any characters you don't recognise are. Belongs to Squenix.

Final Fantasy: the chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

Prologue: DENTAL

Carrot and Zebra had left the temple the next morning with much awkwardness and tearful farewells. A full three weeks had stretched by. Three long, fruitless weeks, with no sign of another light warrior. Since that brief time of understanding and perhaps compassion on that night, both Zebra and Carrot had grown frustrated with their search – Zebra now truly began to suspect it was little more than a wild goose chase – and they showed it in different ways.

Zebra became riled at Carrot and was increasingly cruel to him. She wound him up at every possible moment about every possible thing, putting the blame on him for everything from forgetting a soup ladle to a storm happening in the middle of the night. Every little thing he did irritated her.

As for Carrot, he in turn took her jibes at his supposed incompetence with a deathly seriousness. He didn't react to them, but heard them with a complacent good grace and dwelled on them far too often. His brow furrowed as he contemplated what she had said. God, am I really that bad? Is that true..? He reacted by becoming extremely nervous and concentrating so hard on what he was currently doing to avoid criticism that he was liable to break something unrelated to the task in the process, which, of course, led to more criticism and nervousness. A normal fifteen year old wouldn't have reacted this way to being snarled at by a ratty girl displaying all the signs of violent PMS, but one must remember that Carrot was brought up in a forest by a vegan sage, and took his every word to be absolute truth and a criticism on which to build, or a compliment to listen to with pride. Carrot had never socialized with anyone but this enlightened man – let alone others his own age - and saw flaws in no one but himself, as the sage had been pretty much free of flaws. He valued the word of every person he met as much as those of his old master.

As the days wore on, over three weeks spring melted into summer, and the gloriously hot sunshine did nothing to improve the mood of our heroes. Carrot needed to be ready for any attack in stiflingly heavy armour, and it was illegal for Zebra to as much as pull her hood down in front of him, so they suffered the sun without protest. Zebra nearly hit a thief girl wearing a yellow bikini commenting on the lovely weather whilst waving a stolen ice cream.

"I should have torn her head off…" the mage growled mutinously.

"You wouldn't have done much damage with that little stick you've got there." chuckled Carrot in return.

Zebra turned and shot him a menacing glare with her nostrils flaring. It was true though - her wand could have been made of jelly for all the damage it did.

"Look, I can buy you a new one!" Carrot said hastily when Zebra opened her mouth to start shouting at him once more.

"Where?" she snarled at him.

"It's…um, I don't know…there's a town out there! Somewhere! I think..!" Carrot pointed to a place on the distant horizon and the mage stuck her nose in the air and began a haughty march to the far – off town.

Zebra had never been a bully. But she seemed to be in a constant state of rattiness lately. Because of the futile search for another light warrior? Maybe. But, she reasoned, she was getting a free weapon.

Eventually, they reached the town. It was full of tall, desolate buildings in various states of patchiness and disrepair. However, the people all seemed very friendly indeed.

"Hiya!" said a girl with long blue hair, waving excitedly at them "Welcome to Jubilanté!"

"Um, thanks," replied Carrot distractedly "Listen, can you tell us where the weapon shop - ?"

"Welcome to Jubilanté!" she replied with a insipid smile.

"Uh…" Carrot and Zebra glanced uncertainly at one another until Zebra replied "We'll look around, thanks for your help."

"Welcome to Jubilanté!" the blue haired girl replied grinning and waving at them manically.

The two walked through the cool evening streets of the quiet town. The tall, twisting houses pressed in on them from both sides, and the wind whistled down the quiet alleyways. It was refreshing now that the heat had subsided. All there was in the alley was the sound of their boots pacing in time on the stone cobbles, the wind whistling around their feet and the occasional screams and sobs of a man being mugged and killed horribly.

"You know…" Zebra said awkwardly. Carrot turned to look at her. "You don't need to buy me a weapon. I was just…kind of…" 

"Pissed off?"

"Yeah, thanks. I'm not allowed to say that."

"I don't mind." Carrot turned to face forwards again. As an afterthought, he added "I just won't buy you a birthday present."

Zebra was taken aback. Maybe Carrot wasn't as stupid as he looked. Maybe he –

There was a loud clunk and a hissed curse to her right. The warrior was standing in front of a lamppost clutching his forehead. "…didn't see that…aaagh…"

"It was right in front of you. Alight." Zebra stifled a snort.

"There's the weapons shop anyway," Carrot hastily changed the subject, indicating to his right. They entered the dingy place, and the owner girned at them unpleasantly.

"Hiya," said Zebra cheerily to him "I'm looking for a weapon, you know, that you can like, hit people with."

"Uhuh. So, what are you proficient with?" asked the man.

"Well I –" Zebra paused, glanced at Carrot and furrowed her brow in thought "I'm not really sure."

The owner went into the back room for a moment. There was some shifting of boxes and some clanking noises, then the owner returned dragging out a large crate and, with great difficulty, picked it up and dumped it on the desk.

"Try that lot for starters," he said, prying open the box with a crowbar.

Zebra tried a great variety of weapons, by trying to kill Carrot with them. She had attempted with bows, spears, nun chucks, whips, swords, shurikens, really really big swords, gunswords you could shoot stuff with, double ended swords, even something that looked like a spiky volleyball and a stuffed toy.

All of her attempts so far had been hugely unsuccessful and had involved self – injury in one way or another, so Carrot was leaning against the wall examining his cuticles with his sword by his side when a giant hammer hit him hard on the head and bruised him all down the side of his face, nearly knocking him unconscious and causing him to bleed a little from the mouth. He actually applauded the damage after examining it in a mirror, and took the hammer to the counter. Outside it began to rain.

But when the time came to pay for the hammer, disaster struck.

"Oh no!" Carrot gasped "Someone's stolen all of our Gil!"

"Are you sure you didn't just leave it somewhere?" asked Zebra tiredly. Carrot held out his wallet. In it, there was nothing but a single note –

_You just got robbed__ by me:P_

_Love,_

_Thiefmasta_

"That has got to be the most stupid thief's note I have ever seen." Said Carrot. Zebra was seething with fury.

"I'm gonna find that sonofanimp and SMASH him!" she growled. "Can I borrow this?" she asked the shop owner, who was too terrified to do little more than nod nervously. She snatched up the hammer with a maniacal cackle of glee.

"Cool! Come on Carrot! Carrot?"

Carrot was standing there with a horrified expression on his face, gaping like a goldfish. Zebra poked him with the small end of her hammer. He shook his head and grabbed her arm.

"The…the crystals!" he spluttered "Somebody took the crystals!" It was true, both of their necks were conspicuously devoid of crystals. Zebra let out a bellow like a wounded hippo and, hammer aloft, thundered out of the shop. Lighting split the sky, making her exit all the more dramatic.

She ran around the quiet town, checking every nook and cranny with a ruthless efficiency; most people were inside their houses, those who weren't hid when she stomped past. Carrot followed her from a distance, cautiously making sure to stay out of range of the hammer she was wielding wildly.

Then suddenly, she let out a triumphant "AHA!" and stormed down an alley to their left. When Carrot reached her, she had pressed a boy with blue hair against the wall with the bar of her hammer. He was choking and trying to protest, but around his neck was the irrefutable evidence of the crystals, and on the ground next to him was a pile of gold. Carrot stooped to gather his money, then picked up the thief by his collar (because, though she would never have admitted it, Zebra's arms were starting to shake with the effort of keeping the hammer on his neck.) and slammed him against the wall.

"So," said Carrot "you're 'Theifmasta', are you?"

"Gaack!" replied the boy. Carrot loosened his hold. The boy had thick, dark blue hair tied loosely in a ponytail and golden eyes. He was slightly taller than Zebra – but that wasn't saying much, as Zebra herself was rather short. He had a single gold hoop in one of his ears. Zebra breathed out heavily through her nose, and was about to attack the thief with a war cry, when Carrot reached out a hand and stopped the swing of her hammer. The rain was pelting down heavily now, and the lighting crackled furiously in the sky.

"WHAT?" she asked. Carrot slowly took the crystals off from around the boy's neck.

There were three crystals hanging from his hand. Zebra took back hers slowly, Carrot dropped his own around his neck and down his armour. He slowly drew his sword.

"If you're gonna kill me, quit taking your sweet time about it and just do it." The thief said, but he looked a little confused.

"Take us to the person whom you stole this from." Said Carrot, holding the third crystal aloft. It was identical to the other two, dulled and filled with a dark light, but beautiful all the same.

"I didn't." replied the thief shortly "That one's always been mine."

"If I find out you're lying-" a thunderclap cut the rest of his sentence short. Zebra tugged on his arm.

"Look, I already said I didn't!" snarled the thief "It belonged to my mum! She passed away this morning and gave it to me." He sounded supremely unconcerned, but his voice shook a little. Zebra tugged frantically on Carrot's arm.

"I was never really that…close to her, given my choice of profession." He said formally. The rain was pelting down hard on them now. All three of them were soaked to the skin. Zebra hit Carrot on the head.

"WHAT?" he snapped at her.

"We need to get out of here-!" The sky had turned completely black, and with an ominous fizz, the streetlamps had become extinguished.

"Carrot, listen to me…" It was impossible to hear her over the raging wind, and the thunderclaps echoing around the town. She shook her head, her eyes wide and fearful, and tugged on his arm imploringly. The thief tried to sneak off under the cover of darkness, but Carrot grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and made a break for the gates of the town. Thunderbolts were now crackling behind and all around them. Zebra was falling behind, so he grabbed her wrist as shocks began to zap his armour from the lighting far too close for comfort.

As the thief began to draw ahead of the other two – he was amazingly fast – they followed him to the gates of the town. He vaulted over them and dropped down the other side before the guards had even seen what was happening, the electricity in the air crackling around him.

Carrot preferred a more direct approach. He smashed through the gates with his sword, and pulled Zebra through after him. The guards stood there, flabbergasted, for one last second before there was a deafening crash, a cruelly blinding light split the sky and the soaring world filled with electricity, and all was white and loud and it –

As their vision returned to them, black spots danced around their eyes. The crackling aftermath of the lighting still danced around the town. They stood uncertainly, but it was not long before the thief dropped to his knees again. From the blackened, static ruins of the town he had dwelled in all his life came the sickening scent of what was undoubtedly burnt flesh.

"Tiamat," croaked out his voice in barely more than a whisper. "He will pay."

Carrot crouched down beside him and touched his shoulder uncertainly. "I think we owe you something of an explaination."

FIN

AN: Rightho, sorry this one took so long. Oh well! Please review. Pleeeeease?


	4. Prologue:CASHEW

**Disclaimer: This ain't mine, only any characters you don't recognise are. Belongs to Squenix.**** Also, I know there is no temple outside Onrac and chocobos aren't in FFI but for the sake of this story, assume there is. ******** Enjoy!**

Final Fantasy: the Chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

Prologue: CASHEW

It was undeniably awkward trying to find the final light warrior. The thief called Dental – whom they had swapped names and history with, and explained the situation to – brooded and would not speak if he could help it. He was around eighteen but was acting like a child, sulking and sharpening his knife. However, who could blame him? Carrot and Zebra agreed he had every right to grieve his hometown, but his lack of willingness to cooperate was proving a real hindrance to their search for the final light warrior.

Dental had not protested when Carrot had quietly explained to him that he was destined to save the world, but merely nodded and stuffed the crystal in a pocket of his well – cut designer trousers ("nicked 'em off the top mage, he didn't even notice.") When Zebra voiced concerns about the security this provided to the crystal, as opposed to, say, carrying it around your neck, he replied.

"I'm not hanging that thing 'round my neck again, I'd look like a right twit. I dunno why I did it the first time around. It's alright for you, you're a girl." Zebra nodded as he resumed polishing his knife.

She felt like saying something cutting to Carrot, who was determinedly ignoring this comment a few steps away from them, but she felt too tired. Being the least proficient fighter out of the three of them, Zebra had lugged their luggage for the whole journey to find their final companion over hills and through fields under the baking sun. Neither of the boys dared attempt chivalry and carry them instead: Zebra would have bitten their heads off in a rage of righteous feminism, even if they pointed out that she was also the youngest person in their group. Thus Zebra was tired and growled and snarled like a tigress, and Dental brooded and sharpened his knife to the point where it was not quite so much sharpening as eroding, and Carrot's nerves were stretched to the point where he was muttering to himself and compulsively counting the coins in his moneybag.

He was so absorbed in doing this that he didn't look where he was going as they trekked up hills in a mountainous area. Once around halfway through the second week towards noon, he actually fell down a hill. When Zebra raced down to find him (and to snort at him) he was covered in scratches and he had landed on his fingers on his right hand, making them stiff, bloody and badly bruised.

"Ah…sorry…" he said as he saw Zebra approach. She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she helped him stand. He cursed under his breath, staring at his purple right hand. Zebra helped him walk back up the hill and he cleared his throat as they ascended.

"Yeah? You okay?" Zebra said.

"Well, no, not really." He replied pointedly. Zebra stared at him for a few seconds in confusion, then said.

"Oh! Oh right. Healing. Yes. Um, well I've been meaning to talk to you about that for a while actually." Dental trudged down the slope to meet them and made a disparaging noise at the state of Carrot's fingers. He slung the warrior's arm over his shoulders lazily and helped him climb up. Zebra gave a nervous giggle.

"The thing is…uh, it's a bit awkward, but…" she went on

"Get on with it," snapped the thief irritably

"The thing is, I can't actually do the spells."

"What? You were meant to be the best junior mage at the temple!" groaned Carrot.

"Well, I can but-"

"Why did you say that you cou-?"

"-but LEGALLY I can't." The boys stared at her, stunned. Carrot voiced what they were both thinking.

"You what?"

"The spells need licences. I know the theory, all the incantations and channelling form and have practised them at the temple – well, with a wand, not a hammer, but the hammer has a long handle so it'll work as a channelling weapon – but I've never bought a license."

"So you're telling me that at the white mage temple, they never gave you opportunity to buy licenses?" drawled Dental.

"No, we went into town on weekends and holidays – we're outside Onrac, you know, it's by the sea – but, I mean, I never had any money. At all. There isn't a fund or anything, they want us to live frugally unless we work for our money at the temple – which is fine, I mean it's a fair policy, but –"

"Didn't any of your friend's buy you licences?" asked Carrot confusedly. Zebra burst out laughing as they reached the top of the hill and sat down.

"Licences? You don't buy your friends licences. You buy them nice stuff, like teddies and chocolates and sparkly pens and things. It's like saying, you know, happy birthday, here's an iron."

"I wouldn't mind getting an iron." Said Carrot pensively.

"Whatever," said Dental "Look, let's just go to that town and stay at an inn, and we can find her some licences." He indicated a town on the distant horizon, backed by a beautiful castle rising majestically into the sky.

"Oh please let's go to an inn! What is that town, anyway?" asked Carrot.

"I don't think we brought a map," said Zebra.

"You kids are useless." Dental shook his head. "Well, let's get moving, we can get there by nightfall if we're quick enough."

"Kids? He has no right to call us kids, he's only three years older than you," Zebra hissed to Carrot. "And he's ordering us around as well."

Carrot nodded. To be honest, he was a little relieved that Dental had taken the lead whilst he was injured, but he enjoyed hearing Zebra be angry at someone else too much to correct her. They made no more conversation but she did not snidely snipe at him either. The two of them followed Dental across grass until they hit a dirt track and traipsed along that.

Dental was holding his head a little higher, and he had been talking more. He was beginning to come out of his grievance for his old town – or perhaps he had decided that there was no time to grieve now, or that this little escapade to "save the world" would bring him more fortune than being a small – time thief in a town in the back of beyond. Who could have said what he was thinking?

As the town drew nearer to them, the three grew aware of the dimming of the sunlight and quickened their pace. Zebra and Carrot jogged forwards to catch up with Dental and they paced down the road together.

"I know where that is," said Zebra suddenly.

"Wha?" Dental panted "Where is it?"

"It's Cornelia!" she replied. They were glad of having a secure destination, as the long day's trek had taken it's toll on their weary legs and the walk became even more tiring when they weren't on a downwards slope as the ground had flattened out away from the mountains.

"What? Like, the capital city Cornelia?" said Carrot in amazement. Zebra rolled her eyes.

"No, the othe-"

"HEY!" Her sarcastic reply was cut short by a yell. It came from behind the three of them, and was accompanied by something that sounded like the thundering gait of a chocobo approaching. They turned to see a most unusual sight. A chocobo was running full pelt down the track, descending the hill, feathers flying behind it, wings flailing wildly.

All of a sudden, a timer swinging from the saddle of the chocobo began to beep loudly and gratingly and flash red. The chocobo came to a halt the second the beeping started. Apparently the allocated chocobo rental time had been maxed out. The stop was so abrupt that the rider was flung off the chocobo, flew over its head and landed face down in the dirt. The animal gave an indignant "wark!", ruffled its feathers, turned on its scaly brown heel and trotted at a slower pace back to the stop it hailed from.

The rider – a diminutive figure swathed in dusty rich blue robes, which looked to be of a heavy material, with hefty leather boots clothing their little feet and a pointed hat with a humongous brim casting their whole head in shadow – raised a gloved hand imploringly to the group.

"Wait!" they cried weakly. They sounded very young. Carrot stepped forward and extended his uninjured hand to help them up, wincing with the pain of doing so. As they stood, it was revealed that they were almost certainly male, smaller than Zebra, the owner of a pair of curiously bright yellow eyes shining out from under his hat and, most interestingly, wearing a chain around his neck with a crystal hanging off it.

"How can we help you?" said Carrot. Zebra nearly kicked him.

"I thought you weren't going to stop…I don't know where to start." the boy panted in an accent that had an unmistakable tinge of the haughty upper class.

"You can start by telling us who you are." Said Zebra sternly. However innocent he looked, he was still a stranger.

"I'm Cashew," he said cheerily, extending a hand to each of the three in turn. "I'm from Mysidia. I'm a light warrior, like you guys -" Zebra gave a derisive "tut", whilst Carrot merely looked rather baffled, and Dental actually gave a short laugh "- but I figured it out, you see. My mother had this crystal, and it was my eleventh birthday two days ago – she wanted to give it to me, but, obviously, I didn't let her until I'd prepared and we were well away from the town. Lich has no idea where I'm from now, so he won't attack Mysidia. He only notices me when I have the crystal."

The three companions stared at one another. This sounded very suspicious. A child, avoid the fate an eighteen year old had been unable to escape?

"You're pretty well informed, master Cashew." said Dental coldly.

"I am!" replied the boy happily, apparently not noticing the venom in the thief's voice "I talked to the sages all the time; they dropped me a lot of cryptic hints until I caught on. So, what are your names?"

Zebra stared at the boy with an expression of utmost disbelief. Slowly, she began to speak

"Excuse me, but I don't think you under-"

"I'm Carrot, that's Cashew and that's Zeb-" Carrot had started speaking at the same time as the mage, and the two stopped and glanced at one another, Carrot nervously, Zebra angrily.

"…ra." The warrior finished quietly, cringing a little. The atmosphere was rather tense.

Suddenly, Zebra screamed in surprise. She grabbed something off the back of her head and everyone was shocked to see a minute imp dangling from her hand by the collar of its little brown cape. It had a spiteful, bulging face twisted with malice, its skin had a sheen of jaundiced olive and it was wearing a tiny pointed cap and boots with a filthy green tunic. It let out a stream of curses mixed with spitting and snarling muttered under its breath, and without warning, sliced at Zebra's hand with a vicious, small blade, causing her to drop it and gasp.

The creature began to bite her leg and at that point Carrot had no qualms whatsoever about slicing the little monster in half, wincing at the pain in his hand as he did so.

"I was about to do it," said Zebra mulishly, hammer aloft, but she looked grateful all the same. Cashew cleared his throat and Dental looked as if he could have strangled him.

"As we are now a group of four, monsters will see fit to attack us in organised combat."

"You call this organised combat?" snarled Dental, slicing the throats of two imps trying to steal his earring with a ruthless efficiency "And who said we were a group, anyway?" This last retort was so vicious that several imps whom had been slowly stalking the thief actually stopped and reversed.

"Yeah, you run away." He muttered mutinously under his breath.

"These, silly!" Cashew said jovially, pointing at the crystal around his neck.

"What use are you to us, in any case?" said Zebra, smashing an imp with her hammer and wincing as the blood splattered out from underneath it.

"I know a great deal of black magic." The little mage's eyes sparkled.

"And let me guess, you didn't bother to buy licences either?" growled the thief

"Nope!"

"Whatever, I don't care what you do, but I'm sick of this pain in my arm, and I feel like one good hit would finish me off, so I'm gonna run for Cornelia!" The warrior sheathed his bloody sword and fled off down the track in the direction of the city. Zebra shrugged and pelted after him, and Dental quickly overtook them both.

Cashew ran along behind them. He was attacked by imps several times, but nobody cared to look back and check on him.

They had a long way to go. This was only the beginning.

FIN

AN: Okay, so that was the end of the prologue! I hope you all enjoyed it.


	5. 1: The Knight who was Teased at School

Final Fantasy: the chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

WHEN DARKNESS VEILS THE WORLD, FOUR WARRIORS OF LIGHT SHALL COME.

After a long journey, four young travellers did at last appear, and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal.

Chapter one: The Knight who was Teased at School

Approaching the castle, they were granted entry by a guard who looked frankly amused at the sight of them, and chucked his sword casually at the goblins, causing them to run away squealing.

"I could have done that if my arm wasn't broken." muttered Carrot mutinously.

The castle was stunning, shining with glory, practically dripping in detailed portraits of the monarchs of Corneria, high glass ceilings towering majestically above them, proud guards standing sentry at all the doors. Everyone was in absolute awe of the place.

After walking down the gorgeous, grand corridors of marble, they approached the guard next to the throne room. He spluttered when he saw the crystals, and ushered them in, looking admiringly at the four.

A grand-looking middle-aged man in elaborate robes with a magnificent robe sat upon a beautiful throne, whilst a small calculating man stood close by him, barely up to his elbow.

The golden-bearded king on his ornate throne nodded benevolently at them as they kneeled. Zebra was angry. She didn't understand. No-one did. What was the point in their journey?

The magnificent king said in a hearty voice "Welcome, travellers. I am told you carry crystals. Is this true?"

God, how thick can you get? They're _right here_. Zebra thought. She saw Dental raise his eyebrows subtly. But Carrot lifted his crystal up to the king saying; "Indeed, my lord, these are the crystals of light. We are the light warriors of legend, destined to save this earth."

Zebra didn't feel like a light warrior of legend destined to save _anything._ But she lifted her crystal as well, once Cashew and Dental raised theirs.

"It's just as Lukahn's prophecy foretold: "When darkness veils the world-"

"-four warriors of light shall come." All in the room chorused tiredly. The king smiled, and his eyes lit up from under his thick, bushy eyebrows.

The balding, shrewish chancellor nervously tapped the king on his robed arm.

"Your majesty," he stage whispered "We cannot be certain that these are the warriors foretold by the prophecy."

"Wow, someone with a brain." muttered Dental to Zebra. She had to pretend to cough to disguise her laugh.

"Pardon me, your majesty." she said.

The king nodded at her, noticing nothing. Then, he replied to the chancellor "Yet they stand before us with the crystals. I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence." He sighed tiredly, like a man burdened with many burdeny burdens, and rubbed his beard. Suddenly, his face lit up and his eyes travelled slowly over each of the four.

"Crystal bearers, there is a task I would ask of you. Will you not rescue my daughter, Sarah?" He looked at them all expectantly. They muttered amongst themselves.

"The princess..?"

"What? She was fine last time I heard of her…"

"Uh…I beg your pardon, your Majesty but we have only just arrived. What happened to the princess?" Cashew piped up boldly.

The chancellor replied for his master. "Garland, once a knight in his majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sarah. I ask for your aid in the name of his majesty, king of Cornelia."

"Cornelia…Garland..." Zebra spluttered.

The chancellor gave her a disgusted look, and then continued "Garland," Zebra couldn't contain herself. She gave a little giggle, and then stuffed her robes in her mouth. Even Carrot was finding it hard to keep a straight face. The chancellor blushed and carried on "has taken refuge in the chaos shrine, which lies to our north."

"Well, you seem to have plenty of guards. Why couldn't you rescue her? And your majesty, I hear that you aren't a bad swordsman." Dental said. The small smile paying on his mouth made it plain he also found Garland's name amusing, but he managed to keep a fairly straight face and could still form a coherent sentence.

"Of course we did attempt to save the princess ourselves…" the chancellor continued, now practically purple with embarrassment ",but Garland is the finest swordsman in the kingdom. We have none who can match him." It was too much for Zebra at that moment. She had a mental image of an elaborate wreath of flowers holding Carrot's sword, and burst into fits of giggles.

The King spoke over her "I have heard that you wish to journey to the continent to our north."

"We do?" said Carrot confusedly.

"Oh, yes, indeed your majesty! You got my message for help!" said Cashew in a squeaky, breathless voice. That sobered Zebra up.

"Who said you could make our decisions?" Zebra said loudly, and putting her hands on her hips she turned to the slightly smaller black mage.

"Shut up." muttered Dental, giving both magicians a small shove.

"The bridge leading north was lost long ago, making passage impossible. If you rescue Sarah, I will have the bridge rebuilt. Go now, warriors of light, and do not fail me!"

"Fear not, your majesty, your daughter will return safely to you. We shall rise to this challenge and defeat the dark knight…Garland." Carrot said nobly. Zebra rolled her eyes.

They were ushered out of the throne room.

As the four descended the stairs, Zebra let out an angry exclamation "Rebuild a bridge? What kind of a reward is that?"

"Well, if it helps us on our quest…" Carrot said.

"A bridge is our reward? Huh. I'm going to take a "look" at the famous treasures that have long been stored in the palace." The thief cracked his knuckles and strode off.

"Oh no no no no! You can't do that!" cried Cashew squeakily, wringing his hands. Carrot and Zebra chased after the thief with Cashew jogging along behind, but he was extremely fast.

He dashed down the corridors, whistling a merry tune as he made his way to the treasure room, whilst the others struggled to follow him. Suddenly, the merry tune faded rather pathetically, and was replaced with a horrific wail.

"I w-want my S-SISTER!" cried an angry voice. When Carrot caught up with Dental, he saw that a small, pretty girl with green hair and a sparkling red tiara had latched on to his waist.

"Uh…" Dental flushed red to the roots of his blue hair as the little girl began to cry.

"I think this is Princess Garnet." Zebra laughed.

Dental patted the younger princess awkwardly on the back as she bawled into his midriff. Zebra smiled and picked her up, trying to avoid her running nose. There was the sound of high heels running down the corridor, and a slender, pale woman with thick green hair and an incredibly detailed and rich silk red dress ran into them. In a rich, ringing voice with an upper class accent, this lady graciously said to them "Greetings, my little warriors. We are the Queen Jayne. We apologise for our daughter's behaviour, she is absolutely distraught." The Queen proceeded to pluck the girl off Zebra, then turn and hurry away, a delicate blush gracing her regal cheeks.

"That was brief. She didn't even offer compensation." Dental muttered, shaking his head sadly.

"Still want to look for treasure, Dental?" Cashew asked slyly. The thief speedily made his way to the front door.

They stopped off in town and bought some new equipment and spell licences. "Now I can heal broken legs, Carrot…for a price!" Zebra quipped. Carrot smiled sarcastically at her brandishing his new sword, and cutting his leg by accident. He had to pay the girl fifty gold coins.

When they were out of the town gaining experience in battle, Cashew noticed the strangest thing. Dead monsters turned into…gold coins?

Dental gained a strange expression as he looked at the shining, round pieces of Gil.

"Dental?" asked Zebra nervously. He swallowed and turned around. His eyes were glazed over and his mouth was hanging open. Carrot waved his hands in front of the boy's face. Suddenly he grabbed Carrots hand and squeezed it, squealing with delight. The alarmed warrior wrested his hand from his companion's grip, and stepped back.

"We must kill more monsters! Fight! Fight, dear friends, for the good of the world!" the thief cried out with glee. Dental then grabbed his new rapier and ran off into a horde of goblins, giggling hyperactively. He led them off on a goblin massacre, and the profit they made was incredible.

That evening, everyone went to bed in a good mood. Even Zebra felt cheery. They had chatted with the townspeople, gained all the items and supplies they could, and became extremely proficient in battle thanks to Dental's need for gold.

The next morning, they set off early for the Chaos Temple. Walking across the bright, lush fields of Cornelia, poking fun at Garland's name, and slaying monsters, Zebra felt happy for once. She even gave Cashew a bear hug at one point.

They were nearly at the temple, when some wild horses attacked them, wild-eyed and feral. Despite valiant efforts, they felled the mages. Carrot and Dental killed the monsters and carried the bodies of their comrades back to Cornelia to be resurrected.

"Wouldn't that mean that someone could just resurrect Garland after we've done him in?" Carrot said worriedly, on the way back to the temple.

Zebra snorted "Who would want to resurrect him?"

"A henchperson. Don't evil people always have henchpeople?" suggested Dental.

"Garland sounds pretty pathetic. I doubt it." Replied Zebra, raising her eyebrows.

They arrived at the Chaos Shrine, what once must have been a magnificent testament to some evil being. Now it was riddled with mosses and ivy, broken and battered.

Inside the Chaos Shrine, there were various foul monsters such as deformed wolves, huge spiders and even undead. After some disappointing locked doors that even Dental could not open, they found a hard leather cap which they gave to Cashew, as he was in most need of defence. They all hoped that they would see his face, but to the disappointment of all he simply slid the brown cap under his ridiculously oversized hat. They found a tent and what Cashew defined as a a "magic nourishing potion" in the ruins (although to everyone else it looked like a sparkly fruit smoothie), and then made their way to the centre of the crumbling temple to find…

"Garland!"

He was a man in midnight black armour, tall, with piercing blue eyes and fair hair. A purple cloak swathed him. Five bats flew around the room dramatically. Behind the elegantly dressed dark knight lay a beautiful, frail-looking girl, with emerald green hair and pale skin. A golden tiara set with rubies was on her head, and she was dressed in an exquisite icy blue gown. She was unconscious.

"You monster! How dare you kidnap the princess?" shouted Zebra, hammer ready to swing.

"Hand her over at once, and we won't have to do this the hard way." said Dental lazily, drawing his sword.

The handsome man laughed, readying his own blade and swishing his cloak dramatically.

"The king will have no choice but to exchange the kingdom for his daughter's life. Cornelia will be mine!"

"Give her up, Garland, and we won't hurt you…much." said Cashew. Zebra groaned. "Why are none of his jokes even remotely funny?" she asked herself.

"Hmph. The king's lapdogs. Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" He flourished his cloak.

"A pretty-boy who was teased at school for having a name like Garland?" Carrot retorted. The knight flinched a little "They did tease me…" he mumbled "You really think you have what it takes to cross swords with ME? Very well…" With another flourish of his purple cape he cried "I, Garland, will…uh…k-knock you all down!" Zebra snorted derisively. Garland sniffed haughtily.

He attacked her. She retaliated with a blow to the head, knocking out two teeth. Both Dental and Carrot fought with him, and though he was skilled, Carrot was much more so and Dental was quicker. Cashew cast a fire spell, fiercely burning the knight and reducing his precious cloak to ashes. Zebra didn't even need to use her brand new healing spells on anyone; the knight was simply no match for them. They had no ethical qualms about taking his life; the man was clearly a monster, and the death penalty still ran rampant across law systems throughout the world.

Once Garland had clinked into gold ("So he can't be resurrected!" said Carrot happily), they all turned to look at the unconscious princess. Dental touched her shoulder gently and she opened her eyes.

"You-You've come to rescue me?" Her wide blue eyes gazed around at the four. "I don't know how I can ever thank you…"

"No problem." Dental said cheerily.

"You can start by letting me heal you," said Zebra, glancing at the cut on the princess's bare shoulder.

"Thank you" replied Sarah, bobbing a neat curtsey.

As Zebra cast the spell on her wound, the princess said "So, you four defeated Garland?" (Zebra snickered)"That's the first time anyone's ever beaten him."

Carrot laughed heartily and said "Your kingdom must have pretty rubbish warrior-"

"Meh, it was easy." said Dental casually, smiling charmingly at the princess whilst stamping on his ally's foot.

"You're acting strange." Zebra whispered to him once the princess was gracefully putting up with being rambled at by Cashew. "Do you like her? I think she likes you-"

"Shut up." He snapped at the white mage under his breath. She laughed and the five made their way back to the castle, Dental and Sarah deep in conversation.

Once they reached the castle once more, the king thanked them tearfully and recited for them the whole of Lukahn's Prophecy.

"When the world is veiled in darkness four warriors of light shall come. If they cannot gather the shards of light, the darkness will consume all. The four crystals will never shine again…"

"That's all very well, your majesty, but what does it all mean? What do we have to do?" asked Cashew.

"Restore light to the crystals, young warriors. Restore light to the crystals which you hold, and the elements will not plague us, nor will the foul monsters around the world. Stormy seas, forest fires, diseased crops and lands, no wind for ships…these things will leave our world. I will rebuild the bridge to the north, and wish you luck on your quest. North, you may find more answers."

"That helps." Zebra mumbled. The four turned to leave and opened the door of the grand chamber.

"Wait!" Sarah shouted.

"Don't shout, Sarah." her father chided.

"My apologies, father. Um… this lute." She held up a beautiful gold lute with silver strings and set with sparkling sapphires. She swallowed. "This lute has been entrusted to the princesses of Cornelia for many generations. When he abducted me, Garland took the lute as well."

"That son of a submariner…" Dental muttered profanities under his breath.

"I would be greatly gratified if you could accept it. Just…as a… small thanks from me to you for saving me. Um…It may aid you in your journey. I mean, Garland must have taken it for a reason." There was something she wasn't letting on, Zebra could tell.

"Uh? How could a lute come in handy?" Carrot asked. The princess mumbled nervously.

"You heard her, Carrot. Garland must have taken it for a reason." said Cashew, who had also caught on that there was something the princess didn't want to say.

On the way outside, they were ambushed by a squealing princess Garnet who kissed them all in thanks.

"Don't bother kissing Dental, your sister-"

"_Zebra!"_

"Hee, hee."

They stayed at the inn, and had a good breakfast, leaving before daybreak. The bridge was newly renovated and looked amazing, spanning majestically into the distance over crystal waters.

Cashew breathlessly thanked the periwigged construction manager as he shook their hands excitedly on the road to the bridge. They crossed it, Cashew wanting to stop to play pooh sticks. (Dental won every time) Beautiful birds flew around the crystal clear waters, diving for fish.

On the other side, the four sat on a lush green hill, and looked back at the castle and the rising sun. It was a place of wonderful architecture and had long been hailed by the scholars and artists of the world for its beauty and history. Seeing the castle now in its full glory, bluish on the lush green landscape, twisting like a marble beacon of light high into the sky, with the sun behind it illuminating it in a halo of white light, they realised that the fate of every single thing, from the brilliant blades of grass, to the birds diving for fish, to perhaps the very sky itself lay in their hands. Zebra and Cashew cried, partly from fear, partly from happiness, partly from love of the very world that once Zebra had been so apathetic towards. It looked happy and peaceful, but thousands of cities were suffering the same fates as their hometowns and alarmingly quickly the salient land was becoming ruined. Dental and Carrot pretended not to, but probably cried more than their companions.

And so their quest began. As the four warriors of light, they felt overwhelmed by the great task destiny had placed before them. They did not even know the true significance of the four crystals they held in their hands…

The crystals that once, long ago, held a light that shone so brilliantly.

The time for their journey had come.

The time to cast off the veil of darkness and bring the world once more into light…

This was it. The Final Fantasy had truly begun. The last legend of the world, the last chance to rid it of darkness once and for all.

(Until the other eleven, and all the spin-offs and sequels and prequels and anime and movies, of course.)

AN: Not as good as some of the prologue chapters, but I wrote it much earlier than them.


	6. 2: Oorahsiwshsiws

Final Fantasy: the chronicles of Carrot, Dental, Zebra and Cashew

Chapter two: Oora-hsiws-hsiws

No-one spoke much as they moved onward. The bridge had been long left behind. They were enjoying the travel and the exciting battles along with the profit they brought, but here and there they would see patches of scorched, barren land, stagnant rivers filled with cloying, tar-like substances and they would feel depressed. Cashew was itching to speak, to do something to break that nasty silence, but didn't dare.

He suddenly noticed something. "Hang on," he said. Three faces turned to look at him "do we even know where we are going?"

Everyone muttered and glanced at one another. Then Carrot suddenly was hit by inspiration.

"North," he said "North is good. That's one of the things my master taught me."

"What?" said Zebra "That's stupid. Why?"

"North is good." The warrior repeated.

So they set off north. Through mountain ranges and forests they trudged, with many monsters attacking them. Though Zebra was annoyed with Carrot, they were all in fairly high spirits.

Eventually, the four reached a landmark. A mysterious cave of stone cut into a lush green hill. A haunting, strange melody was tinkling through the roughly hewn granite entrance…

Inside the cave, it was indeed magnificent. After going down some stone steps, they arrived in a purple stone corridor, illuminated with a weird blue flame.

As they approached a door set with dragon skulls, Dental noticed something moving violently in the shadows. He drew his sword and the creature came into the light.

"Front-wards, back-wards, any way you see! Such a strange spell to swish-swish-aree!"

It was a broomstick, sweeping the corridor.

"Tceles Nottub B. Swish-swish-aroo!"

"What the fiend?" said Carrot bemusedly.

Zebra was silent. "I know of this place…" she thought to herself.

"AAAAH!" Cashew made a sudden exclamation.

"What is it?" asked Carrot, alarmed at the outburst of his usually rational comrade.

"MATOYAAAA! I'M YOUR BIGGEST FANNNNN!" squealed the mage, and he ran through the doors into the room beyond.

"Matoya! That's it!" said Zebra triumphantly, snapping her fingers. She explained to her less well-read allies "Matoya is a black wizard of incredible prowess. Some would say she is the leader of the black mages, but she is much more skilled than them, so much so that she generally doesn't bother with them - not out of rudeness, but simply because they aren't on the same level. She knows dragons, and she can see a great many things. She's been around for a very long time, but hasn't lost any energy. She's fantastic! They used her all the time as a role model for us girls down at the temple…"

"Huh." Said Dental flatly, clearly unimpressed "Well, let's go and see her. She might be able to help us."

They entered into a large purple chamber with many more brooms, singing the tune they had heard. The varying pitches hit a slightly grating but beautiful harmony. Dragon skulls were displayed on tables draped with dusty red rugs. There were treasure chests, a little table with a grand chair, a magnificent bed, and two huge bookshelves brimming with dusty tomes, many of which were scattered around the floor, various gold and silver cauldrons, and more of the blue lamps…and standing at the end of the table…

"OUCH!" There was a nasty thud as an angry voice cried out. The witch had stubbed her toe on the table. As the three turned to see her, illuminated in the bluish light, it became clear that she was very tall, thin as a skeleton and was swathed in an impressive red robe. She wore a huge purple hat on top of her thick silver hair, wide brimmed but not shadowing her eagle-like face. Matoya was not quite ugly, but very other-worldly and intimidating. Her skin was almost transparent, and she had an incredibly impressive nose. Her thin-lipped mouth was full of strangely pointed teeth, two skull earrings hung from her pointed ears and her eyes were…white?

"My eye…my eye!" she cried in frustration. She tripped over one of the tomes laying around the floor and banged her nose off her shining floor "OUCH!"

"Ah!" she cried, as Carrot hurried forward and lent her his arm to rest on. She straightened up unsteadily and turned to the group.

"I can't help you kids. I know you have a quest to save the world and all that, but I can't see a blasted thing without my crystal eye. And I'm sorry kiddo-OUCH! But I can't give you my autograph. Who could have stolen it from me..? Oh, feel free to take the treasure from my treasure chests."

Dental cheered and made a beeline for the treasure chests. Cashew looked as though he was going to cry. Zebra stood there, shocked to see the dignified witch reduced to this. Carrot looked confused.

They left the witch's cavern (Cashew tearfully vowing to find her eye) and made a long journey east. The four reached Pravoka; a bustling port town built almost entirely on water, with the locals huddled and quiet and nervous. The sun shone out of the clear, cold sky onto the white, chalky houses and the pale cobbles bridging over the water.

It was a lovely town, admittedly, but something in the sea air wasn't quite right.

Cashew asked a punk man with a bright green mohawk what was going on.

"Those blasted pirates!" he screeched "They're running around looting and pillaging like they own the place!" He hawked and spat into the water vehemently.

Cashew stood silently stunned.

Dental thanked the punk and steered the little magician away from him.

They stocked up on new spell licences and equipment, and spent some time training to defeat the pirates (which, said Carrot, it was their duties as light warriors to do, despite Dental and Zebra's protests.)

They made their way through the town to an alley where the pirates were gathered in a formation like something out of "West Side Story." People called them crazy as they walked determinedly to the centre of the trouble, and whilst Carrot and Cashew determinedly ignored them, Zebra and Dental tried very hard to pretend that they weren't there.

The leader of the pirates was called Bikke, a muscular buccaneer with a bristling black beard and a faded blue frock coat over some filthy blue trousers and shirt tied with a hideously garish red sash.

As the four approached, he ground his teeth at them menacingly.

"Bikke, we demand that you stop terrorising these innocent people. Please don't make us hurt you." Carrot said in a bored tone. He was sure that the pirate would end up like Garland.

Bikke leant forward and hissed in Carrot's face, "Ye've got cannon balls of steel to be takin' on the great pirate Bikke!" His breath stank of gin and oysters. Carrot reeled back. The pirate smirked and yelled "Keelhaul 'em, boys!"

From all around the leader, nine identical brigands with yellowing teeth and the same smell of oysters and gin leapt and brandished rusty, blunt blades at the four, again in West Side Story formation. "Aye-aye captain! We'll make their bones crunch!" they yelled ferociously, and proceeded to attack Carrot.

"That sounded over-practised," muttered Dental to Zebra before leaping into the fray.

Zebra battered one with her hammer. They took swipes at everyone, yarring, however, they missed the four most of the time and even when Carrot let them hit him, he barely felt it. With his brand new battle-axe, he cut them down. Even Cashew managed to knock out a pirate with his tiny steak knife. They disintegrated into gold pieces. Bikke dropped his sword and staggered back, amazed. He dropped to his knees.

"I be most sorry, young masters. I'll be makin' no more fuss, I swear." Dental pointed his curved sword at the pirate, raising his eyebrows.

"I want ye to take me ship for ye trouble. Can ye find it in yer heart to fergive an old pirate?" He grinned at them hopefully, the sort of grin that could probably get you arrested. Carrot nodded.

"A ship? Hell yeah!"

"Huzzah! We obtained a ship!" cried Cashew, clapping his hands in delight.

Everyone looked at him.

"Huzzah! We obtained a nerd!" cried Zebra, rolling her eyes at Dental.

The pirate directed them to his ship and as they made their way towards it, they were thanked by the townspeople – although, as Dental sadly noted, none of them saw fit to offer discounts on their wares or compensation. One man made a blatant plea to help his town of Melrond, which was allegedly under attack from the Lich. Zebra tugged Carrot away before he could launch into a heroic monologue.

A woman told them about a city to the south across the sea where an elven prince was lying in irreversible slumber. Carrot's eyes lit up when he heard this, and Dental and Zebra groaned.

"Why not? We've nowhere better to go!"

"You'll be making us stop to rescue kittens stuck in trees next!" the thief sighed exasperatedly.

The woman looked startled and walked away at this. She'd only been exercising her gossip skills; she didn't expect anything more than a few bored expressions.

So they made their way out of the town towards the port, where Bikke's ship was waiting for them. It was hardly what you'd call magnificent…more like "It'll do for now."

The ship – well, it was more a glorified sailing boat with ship-like qualities – was tiny, and cobbled together out of what looked suspiciously like balsa wood and some very rusty nails. As they stepped onto it, it gave a pained creak. Zebra chucked their luggage into the hold with a grateful sigh, not bothering to explore inside but collapsing onto the deck and letting the fierce wind and sun beat down upon her grateful face.

Carrot, who couldn't wait to get away from the strange inhabitants and stinking buccaneers of the town, had already prepared the vessel to set out. "Does anyone know how to steer this thing?" he asked.

"I do!" Cashew cried delightedly, emerging from the depths of the boat where he'd been excitedly examining the inside of the ship. He positively threw himself at the helm with the greatest gusto, crying "Hoist the sails!" in the squeakiest voice imaginable.

"Do what now?" Dental, who had not been at all impressed with the quality of the vessel, replied dully.

Cashew rolled his great, bright eyes ("Impudent wretch!" hissed Zebra) and beckoned everyone over to explain what they had to do.

"Can't we just hire a crew to run this thing for us? Isn't three and a half a bit few to man a ship?" droned Dental even more dully. He never saw reason to make an amateur job of something if you had the money to pay someone to do it properly for you.

However Cashew was insistent that they put no one else to any trouble ("Trouble? They'd be paid! We're saving the world!") without absolute necessity, and they eventually came to the conclusion that Cashew should just do everything if he could.

The 3 older heroes sat determinedly aside from the little mage, puffing with the exertion of his labours, childishly turning away from him and talking loudly about what a lovely day it was and how nice it was to finally have some time to relax.

Cashew eventually conceded that his efforts were ridiculous and unnecessary, but rather than returning to port to hire a sailor, he snatched Zebra from sunning herself on the deck and together they cast several clever charms upon the various parts of the ship to keep it in running smoothly alone. To the helm Carrot boldly stated their destination, Dental cast off the rope as the rusty anchor grandly drew itself up, and the four sat back, together, to enjoy the golden rays of the noon sun, and the glorious scent of the waves, the motion of the boat and the cry of the gulls, and the dubious yet inviting alcoholic beverages the thief had rather irresponsibly provided for them.

AN: I know absolutely bugger all about ships. Please forgive me. Review if you enjoyed 


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